What do/can you do for your community?
This question was posed to me recently. I’ve been thinking about it for a while. There doesn’t seem to be a clear definitive answer. So I'll tell you about my experience. I am not an extrovert by nature. I prefer to stay home and talk to the same 3 people. I like to push myself out of my own comfort zone, I leave the house and interact with others. I try new things. In doing this I have joined PAC, becoming the secretary, I meet people who are hesitant or reluctant to try things or meet people. They feel like they don’t know anything and are afraid to try. I’ve met many people like this. So I do what I know. I teach them about the resources available. Point them to information that I trust from the internet. Tell them about local meet ups that are open to new members and how to contact them. Put simply I introduce them to the fact that they are not alone. I’ve seen the results. Some join the spaces we’ve made for each other, some continue their journey online, some do it privately and occasionally update me, sometimes they just continue how they were before and that’s okay. After thinking about this the conclusion I’ve reached is that the most important thing is to show up. Show up for your community. This is the first step, the most important step. You support by showing up. You help it grow by helping others learn they're not alone. You help it learn either by teaching or by directing to or providing resources. And your support starts by showing up. This is what I do for my community and it may seem small but I know I've personally helped several people, not as a group but as two individuals having a conversation.